haskell



J. B. HASKELL. F. BRUESKE AND C. C'. PAIIVIEH.

AUTOMATIC DOOR OPENER.

APPLlcAnoN 'meu MAR 22.1918.

1,323,529. Patented Dee. 2,1919.

' 3sHEETs-sHE| u.

l I I I.

r f@ I8 /7/ i o 2/ Z /1 I7 1 9 E5 L9 1': El f 27 /7/ lf3/. s

. s I /fz (j A I /J s L# 'l' um E i I @15V/4 I NVE/v 'ro/7.5. cf Has/reu.

wd C. C. Pfl/ MER.

i. l l Y THE/ firm/mns. 55% /gm da 1. B. HASKELL, F. BRUESKE AND C. C. PALMER.

AUTOMATIC DOOR OPENER.

0m l Ou 1 2.. nw e D d .w m D.. m.. L 2 n M D E .|I. N o n A w n P A 3 SHEETS-SHEEI 2.

I/v vE/v roms. ci. HHS /rE/.L

E ufs/rf. C. c. PM. Msn.

Er THE/f? frrowgms.

J. B. HASKELL. F. BRUESKE AND C. C. PALMER.

AUTOMATIC DOOR OPENER.

APPLICATION HLED MAR.22.1918.

1 ,323,529.. Patented Dec. 2, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

H TTORNE )f5.-

IJNI sTAfns TA i T onirica.

Y JAMn'sB, IIAsIIiiLL," FERDINAND DRUESKE, AND CHARLES OLYDE rALMEia, on

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, AssIGNons To CROSBY AUTOMATIC Doon ooM- PANY, or MINNEAPOLIS, MINNDscTA, A CORPORATION or MINNESOTA.

will enable others skilled in the art to whichV it appertains to make and use the same.

VOur invention has for its object to provide a simple and highly efficient automatic door actuating mechanism, the term door being herein used in such a broad and liberal sense as to include gates or other devices that are i movable to open and close passageways.

The actuating mechanism, however, is especially well adapted for use in connection with garage doors, and in theV accompanying drawingsis illustrated as applied for such purpose. In garages, compressed air orvarioufs purposes, ,such as charging tires, is always available, and hence, we utilize compressed air 'as a power medium for operating thedoor.` A cylinder and reciprocating piston is provided with'suitable connections to the Vdoor for raisingl and lowering the saine; a suitable valve mechanism is provided for controlling admissionl of air to and discharge from such cylinder, Vand weight actuated tripping devices are installed in the roadway at opposite sides, to wit, atV the inside and at the outside of the door; andare provided with connections for operating the valve mechanism. i e e These so-called tripping devices, per ce, areot1 novel construction, and the manner of their connection to the valve mechanism, also involves important novel features.

There is also `provided a novel semaphore or signal device for indicating .thatthe door has beenl released for closing movement; and

this semaphore, as a novelV feature, is arrangedv to be V'actuated by Vthe exhaust air from the door operating'engine.

The invention, in its preferred form, is illustrated in the'` accompanying v drawings wherein like characters indicate likeparts throughout the several views.

' Referring to the drawings;

'Figure vl is anelevationwth lseine parts Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dee. 2, 1919.

Appiieatioa ieaMareh'az, 191s, serial No. 224,060.

sectioned, illustrating the invention applied to the door of a garage, or the like;

Fig. 2 is a plan view oi' the'tripping de.- vices and their connections to the valve mechanism Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of one of the tripping devices;

Fig. et is a vertical section taken through one of the tripping devices on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2, the parts being Shown on the same scale as in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken approximately on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2, the parts being shown on the same scale as in Figs. 3 and 1;

Fig. 6 is a detail view showing a portion of the connection 'between theleft hand tripping device and the controlling valve,some parts being in vertical section and the parts being shown on a much larger scale than in Fig. 3; n

Fig. 7 is a front elevation of the semaphore;

n Fig. 8 is a side elevation thereof; and

Fig. 9 is a )lan ,view of the controller valve, the top pate thereof removed.

The numeral 10 indicates the road bed and the numeral 11 the ceiling or overhead structure, and the numeral 12, vertical posts at the door opening of the garage, or the like.

The numeral 13 indicatesthe door, thisl door, Vas shown, is of simple form and by means of brackets 11i, is mounted Vto slide verticallyon the posts 12, but it will be understood that so far as this invention is conT cerned, the door may take various forms and mayl be mounted in various diiierent` yways for its opening and-closing movements.

VVIn Fig. 1, the door opening is indicated by the dotted lines 15. The weight of the door is nearly, but, not quite, counterbal.-

vanced by a weight 16 attached `to cables 17 Working in this cylinder 20 is. an Ordinary piston., the Stem 21r ci which prejeets and iS y spectively, through ports 26:L and 27 a.

equipped with one or more grooved sheaves 22. Journaled in lugs projected from the compression end of the cylinder 20 is one or more guide sheaves 23. The door lifting cable 24 is attached to the central upper edge portion of the doorand is passed one or more times around the sheaves 22 and 23 and has its end anchored at 25 to a fixed part, such as the front end of the cylinder 20. Obviously, when air is admitted into the end of the cylinder 20, and piston moved outward, sheave 22 will be moved away from slieave 23v and the cable 24 ywill be taken up with a multiplied motion, thereby lifting the door from lowered to completely open position with a comparatively short piston travel.

' Such arrangements are well understood and need not be further here considered.

YAir for operating theabove described door lifting engine will be supplied from a suitable source, such as a storage tank, not shown, through pipes 26 and 27, the delivery end of which latter pipe leads to the compression end of the cylinder 20. The two pipes 26 and 27 are connected to the controller valve. This controller valve is preferably located in a pit or sunken hous ing 29alocated below the floor surface of the doorV opening. The controller val-ve may be of any well known or suitable type, but, as shown, it comprises a valve casingV 29 into which the pipes 26 and 27 open, ligen exhaust pipe 28 leads from a port 28L in casing 29. Port 26L is normally closed by al check valve 30 that is subject to a coiled spring 30a. vThe port 28.a is normally closed by a check valve 31 that is subject to a light coiled spring 32. The stem of valve 31 is extended through a head 33 and is provided with nuts 34 at the back of said head. The head 33 is pivoted to an arm 35 of an oscillatory stein 36. This stem 36 extends upward through a .stuijling box` or other the outer side of the door is a similar; tripping device, both of which tripping devices are located in the driveway in position to ber runfover by the wheels of a vehicle that is being run into or out of the building through the doorway. yThese tripping de- 60 vices involve important novel construction, andas preferably designed and shown, each comprises as follows:

Set into the driveway `with its main body portion `flush with the same is a metal bed plate 38 preferably a casting provided at its ends with upwardly arched pockets 3 9 that are open at their bottoms, and intheir 4opposing inner walls, Vare formed with downwardly diverging V-shaped cam slots 40.` Trip rods 41 extend in elevated positions over the bed plates 38, and their ends are extendedinto the pockets 39 through the cam slots 40. Y

Located within the pockets 39 `and rig-`V idly secured at their upper ends to the inner ends of the trip rod 41 are depending arms 42, the lower ends of which are pivotally connected by pins 43 'toA crossV heads 44Y mounted toY move vertically in depending guide brackets 45, which, as shown, are cast integral with the base plate 38. Rigidly secured to and depending from the central portion of the base plate 38 is av stud 46, and mounted to move vertically on this stud is a-.yielding lever abutment 47. A cap 48 is` Vpivoted in seats `formed in the abutment 47,

and at their outer ends, are pivoted in seats formed in the socalled cross heads 44.

Through the connections just described, the spring 50 exerts a force that will normally hold the tripping rod 41, at its JoppoV site ends at the apexes of the two V-shaped cam slots, the upper surface of which'cani slots work as cams'on the said rod to normally hold the same in intermediate uppermost position. 'The two levers 51 cause equal depressions of the Hopposite ends of the tripping rod, when, for example, the wheel is run over the rod close to one end. The cam-acting arm `42, secured to the ends of the tripping rod cause the sameto move simultaneously in the saine direction down the V-shaped cam grooves and will prevent, for example, one end of: the rod from starting down one side of one V-shaped cam slot and the other end of the rod from starting in the other direction down the other side of the other cam slot. y,

At one end, the tripping rod 41 of each tripping device works in the vertical slotl 53Aof a plunger head 54 that is rigidly se` cured to a plunger rod 55 mounted to slide endwise through depending fiaiiges 39a formed on the base plate 38 below the pockets 39. The rods 55 of the two tripping devices extend towardeach other and toward the lever 37 of the controller valve, and at their extended ends, are provided, with bifurcatedjheads 55a, the. prongs of which, as shown, are provided with pins 56 thatV work in slots 5.7 of connecting heads 58.

These connecting headsl58, as shown, are

rigidly secured to. the ends-of' tubularspring casings 59 that are provided at their extended ends with caps 60. The numeral 6l indicates connecting rods pivoted at their inner ends to the. opposite ends oi' the con- 1 troller valve lever 37 and at the outer ends extend into the tubular spring casings 59v through the caps 6.0l thereof, and provided within said tubes with heads 62. C'oiled springs 63 are located within the casing 5.9 and arecompressed between the same and the heads 62 exerting force which normally causes the above noted elements 58, 59 and 6l tof operate as single 'or integral elements, but in which the spring 63, under certain conditions, will yield and prevent breaking or bending of the parts.

The semaphore or signaling device may' ltake various forms, but, as shown, comprises as follows:V i

The numeral 64 indicates a casing made up of laterally spaced plates rigidly secured' to and depending Jfrom a bracket 65 that isV rigidly secured in any suitable way to ythe wall of the building adjacent to the door opening. The numeral 66 `indicates thef to the upper end'of` a link 71, thelower end.

of which "link is pivoted to the semaphore blade 66 at 72, which point- 72 is offset from the pivot 67.l Inthe upper side portions of the cylinder 68 are air discharge ports 7 3.

As a feature of' this invention, the exhaust pipe 28, `which, in the arrangement illustrated, leads directly from the valve casing 29, and indirectly from the cylinder 20 of the door actuating air motor, is connected to the lower or compression end ofthe cylinder 68 of the semaphore actuating air motor. The cylinder 68 in its lower or compression end, isV provided, however', with a constantly open but restricted exhaust Vpassage 74, Y

v Operation.

The operation of the mechanism described is as follows:

Figs. 2, l and 5 show the normal position of the parts of the tripping device and the ful-l lines, Fig. 2, indicate the position ofthe valve actuating connections between the tripping devices and the controller-v valve whenthe door 'is infan 'openerelevated posi-4 tion. Fig. 9 shows an intermediate position of a valve actuating head 39 and arm 35 when the valve actuating lever 37 is midway between the two extreme positions indicated by iull and' dotted lines in Fig. 2. When the saidvalve actuating lever 37 is in the position shown by full lines in Fig. 2, head 33A will be forced toward the right, in respect to Figs. 2 and 9, thereby causing spring 32 to positively close check valve 3l and thereby positively forcing air admission valve 3.0 into `an open position. This adjustment of the valves 31 and 30 ust stated, permits air, under pressure, from air supply pipe 2,6 to flow through the chamber of valve casing 29, and through pipe 27 to cylinder-20 of the door actuating air motor, causing the door to be moved to an open position and there held in an open position as long as lever 37 stands in its full line position Fig. 2.

Y Vlt must be assumedthat lever 37 is set in` its full line position Fig. 2 while a vehicle wheel, or the like, passes in the one direction or the other over one or t-he other of the tripping rods 4l, thereby depressing the said rod Aand forcing the same inward toward the door, and it should now be assumed that the vehicle is between the two tripping rods and will pass either into the building over the inner rod or from the building over the outer rod, in either of which vevents the resulting action will be the same. Hence, assume that the vehicle passes outward-over the left hand tripping rod 4l and thereby depresses the sameand causes the ends of the rods to move down the left hand branch or against the left hand oblique cam surface of cam slot 40. Vhen the tripping 'rod 41 is thus depressed, it will, because of the vertically moving pivots 43, be caused to osoillate in a direction which will force plunger head 54, and hence, the connected plunger 55 outward, oraway from lever` 37, `and inasmuch as left hand pin 56 is at the beginning of such movement, at the outer `extremity `of the coperating rod 57, it is evident that `the outer or left hand `coniiecting rod 6l will be moved `outward or Y toward the left, thereby moving lever 37 to the dotted line position Fig'. 2. This movement of lever 37 from -full line to dottedlinc position F ig.'2, movesvalve actuating head 33 toward the left in respect Ato Fig. 9, thereby leaving admission valve 30 closed while moving' exhaust valve 31 to open position, thereby permitting the exhaust of air from cylinder 2O through pipe l27, through chamber of valve casing 29 and exhaust pipe 28. This permits the piston of cylinder 2O to return under the weightof the door and the door can be automatically closed with its preponderance of weight over that-of the counter weight 16. It may be here noted that when .left- .hand rod 61 is moved, as just above stated, to set lever 37 from its full to its dotted line position Fig. 2, the right handv connecting rod 61 may also be moved butdoes not impart movement to the right hand thrust bolt 55 because, at the beginning of such movement, right hand pin 56 was at. the right hand extremity of coperating slot 57. However, when lever 37 is set in its dotted line position, right. hand slot 57 will be set with its left hand extremity engaged with cooperating pin 56 and, moreover, as soon as the depressed left hand trip rod l1 is released, it is restored to its normal position, thereby setting left hand pin 56 at the right hand extremity` of the coperating slot 57. This then leaves the two connecting rods 61 and cooperating connections to the tripping devices so set that when either one of the trip rods Ll1 is depressed and moved toward the door and lever 37, such movement will set valve lever 37 from its dotted line position back into its full line position Fig. 2, thereby again causing the door to open.v It is, of course, evident that when onel of the rods 41 is depressed or moved away from the door, the coperating plunger head 54- and plunger 55v will be given a movement in the same direction, and

that when one of the said tripping rods is v moved toward the door the said coperating elements 54 and 55 will be given a movement in that same direction. Attention is also called to the fact that a second depression of either of the tripping rods 4l in the same direction has not been effected on the connecting rods 61or valve lever 37, since the same will be then found already set by the first depression of the trip rod in the position in which they would be set by a second depression if the first depression had not already taken place.

The V-shape or reverse downward divergence of the so-called cam slots or surfaces 40 positively cause the upwardly spring pressed trip rods l1 to normally stand accurately in intermediate uppermost positions and positively prevent over movements or vibrations of the rods after they have once reached their normalA intermediate uppermost positions.

- We will now note the action of the exhaust on the semaphore.k When the door is being opened or the door actuated air motor has just been set into action to open the door, there will, yof course, be no exhaust through the exhaust pipe 28, and hence, the semaphore will not be operated nor is there any necessity that it should be since thereis no danger that can result from opening ofthe door. .When`, however, the door is decending or closing or released for such movement, by exhaust Vfrom air from the cylinder 20, there is a danger that the door might close on a person or upon a vehicle moving either `into or out of a building, and

such exhaust port fast enough to prevent sufficient pressure in cylinder 68 to cause piston 69 to be raised, therebythrowing the` semaphore into "its horizontal positionf,

When piston 69 moves above exhaustiperforations 73, its further upward movement lwill be stopped. The semaphore will then be held in its projected position until the` door has been completely closed, and then the said semaphore will, imder Vits own. gravity and the weight of piston 69, beV slowly'restored to normal retracted position as the air caged in cylinder 89V escapes through restricted exhaust portll.- Thev semaphore is, therefore, in a very advantageous way, operated by the exhaust from the Vdoor actuating air motor. The door closing and semaphore signaling movements are properly and accurately timed, the one in respect to the other.

The efficiency and practicability of the door actuating mechanism herein described has been demonstrated in actual usage.

What we claim is: f

, 1. The combination with a movable door, or the like, of a cylinder and pistonV air motor,the piston thereof having a connec-` tion to said door for operating the same, a valve casing, a pipe connecting said valve casing to the cylinder of said air motor, a compressed air supply pipe extending to said valve 'casing and provided with an admission valve, a pipe extending from said casing and provided with an exhaust valve,y a valve actuating head in said valve casing operative when moved in one direction, to close said exhaust valve and open said admission valve, and when moved'in the other direction to open said exhaust valve and permit said admission valve to close, and connections for operating said valve actuating mechanism and including a trip for Ythe driveway.

2. The combination with a movable door, or the like, lof a Ycylinder and piston air motor, the piston thereof having a'connection to said door for operating the same,a valve casing, a pipe connectingsaid valve casing to the cylinder of said air motor, a

with connections for reciprocating saidvalve actuating head, a double-ended lever connected to said crank and tripping devices in lthe driveway Vhaving independent connections to the opposite ends of saidlever.

3. The combination with al movable door,

or the like, of a cylinder and piston air motor, thepiston thereof having a'connec-V tion to said door for operating the same, a

valve casing, a pipe connecting said valve casing to the cylinder of said air motor, a compressed air supply pipe extending to said valve casing and provided with an admission valve, a pipe extending from said casing and provided with an exhaust valve, a valve actuating head in said valve casing operative when moved in one direction, to close said exhaust valve and open said admission valve, and when moved in the other direction to open said exhaust valve and permit said admission valve to close, a crank with connections for reciprocating said valve actuating head, a double-ended lever con nected to said crank and tripping devices in the driveway having independent connections to the opposite ends of said lever, the said connections having slip motion vices for the purposes set forth.

et. The combination with a movable door, or the like of a door actuating mechanism comprising an air motor,` a controlling valve therefor, a valve actuator including a trip in the driveway, and a semaphore operated by exhaust of air from said air motor.

5, The combination with a movable door, or the like, of a cylinder and piston air motor, the piston thereof having a connection to said door for operating the same, a valve casing, a pipe connecting said valve casing to the cylinder of said Vair motor, aA

compressed air supply pipe extending to said valve casing and provided with an admission valve, a pipe extending from said casing and provided with an exhaust valve, and vehicle actuated means for operating' said admission and exhaust valves in reverse order to eiect the opening and closing of said door, a semaphore, a cylinder and pis-V ton air motor for operating said semaphore, the cylinder of said latter motor being connected to said exhaust pipe from said valve casing. l

6. sIhe combination with a movabln door, or the like, of a cylinder and piston air motor, the piston thereof having a connection to said door for operating the same, a valve casing,'a pipe connecting said valve casing to the cylinder of said air motor, a compressed air supply pipe extending to y said valve casing and provided with an ad mission valve, a pipe extending from said casing and` provided with an exhaust valve, and vehicle actuated means for operating said admission'and exhaust valves in reverse order to effect the opening and closing of said door, a semaphore, a cylinder and piston air motor for operating said semaphore, the cylinder of said latter motor being connected to said exhaust pipe from said valve casing, the said cylinder having a restricted normally open exhaust passage.

7. In an actuating mechanism for doors, or the like, a tripping mechanism comprising laterally spaced members having approximately Vshaped cam surfaces, a tripping rod working against said V-shaped ca .i surfaces and normally yieldingly pressed upward into the apexes of said camways, connecting rods for controlling the door movements, and means whereby depression of said tripping rod, operating through said rods, will control the door movements.

-8. In an actuating mechanism for doors, or the like, a tripping mechanism comprising raised bars with approximately V- shaped cam channels, a trip rod working in alined cam channels, yielding means pressing said tripping rod upward into the apexes of said channels, connecting rods for controlling the door movements and means whereby depression of said tripping rod will impart endwise movements to said connect ing rod.

In testimony whereof we ax our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES B. HASKELL. FERDINAND BRUESKE. CHARLES CLYDE PALMER.

Witnesses:

HENRY D. KiLcoRE, F. D. MERCHANT. 

